To ask when you’ve experienced white privilege

[Whitepriv]

Sadly I know I have. In East London at a high rise, was checking into an Airbnb and couldn’t find the lockbox despite instruction so was looking extremely dodgy, looking under lots of the block of flats windowsills. There’s a young black man hanging out a few metres from me smoking a cig.

Police come by and ask me if I could do with any help and if I’m okay. I tell them that I’m fine but thank you. In less than a minute, I see the same police moving on the young black man for hanging around outside the flats, with a ‘you can’t loiter here’. Sad 😞

Midnight, standing at the bottom of a ladder propped against an art gallery wall while my friends tried to catch a cat on the flat roof. Two policemen spot me. Saunter along to see what's what. All very jovial. Had a go at catching the cat.
I never worried for a second that it would be anything other than jovial. Didnt enter my mind that it could be.

Without fail at airports I prepare my white dh everytime to take our dc so that when I am taken into a side room for interview they are safe.
Every time I've been in a side room I'm in with lots of POC. Heathrow and Gatwick it's goddamn obvious!!!!

Oh and to note I've no crimes to my name and I'm a qualified professional

The most blatant example I can think of was being in Sri Lanka with family.

We were travelling in a minibus down the coast and were stopped at a military checkpoint. The local driver was terrified and handed over his papers as ordered to by the soldiers.

Not one of us tourists were asked to prove who we were. We were waved on with a smile after blond xbil chatted with the soldiers about cricket.

I can walk down the street in central London smoking a joint, secure in the knowledge that if there are black youths around the police won't even notice me, and if they did If be treated far more leniently. A white middle class hippy is no threat, while a black dude with the same ethics and economic class could be arrested.

At border control in Malaysia going into Singapore. Dh and I and a load of other white tourists were shepherded through unchecked ahead of Malay travellers. We were students at the time and felt very uncomfortable. I’m sure I have had white privilege hundreds of times but that’s the time I recognised it.

Go to the footy, it's the black supporters hovered over by cops.
Go to the shops, security don't follow me if I'm walking in at same time as a black person.
Applying for work. Its been tested many times, be uneducated but white and you will get job over someone who coloured or has a obviously forigen name and educated.
People don't automatically judge on my skin colour. Nor do they cross road to avoid me, avoid sitting near me, avoid eye contact.
Even back to primary school, it was assumed the white kids will go further so they got obvious better treatment.

There would be so many more, many I'd probably not even notice sadly.

Living in the USA we travelled a lot (we knew we were only there for 3 years) and everyone was lovely to us - I went to buy camping supplies from my local supermarket (where I knew the staff) and the packer said he "couldn't" go to the place we'd booked, (I hadn't even noticed he was Hispanic at this point.) When I said that everyone was friendly when we went before he looked at my kids sleeping in the double pushchair with curly blonde hair and blue eyes and said it's because only white people are welcome ... it shocked me. I can never know if he was exaggerating but it was a very aryan looking crowd at the campsite with the exception of our (south) Asian colleagues who were with all of us.

On a

I almost never have to think about my skin colour.

@barbieandshelley my dh is always questioned, searched etc in airports too, he's of Middle Eastern heritage. A trip to the US last year was particularly bad. We won't be going back for quite a while.

@AGrownManMadeWager my doctor friend always gets stopped as well. It's always scary. Always. Because you know you've been selected on the one thing you've got not control over and therefore have no idea how far their protocol will take it hence why I always ensure if I'm going through security my dc are with my white dh who's never been stopped.

Though where I live in the U.K. it is very multicultural and many jobs are advertised as must speak Gujarati, even though it has nothing to do with the job, and there's houses for rent and the advertising details are not written in English, my friend translated recently, and I've heard being charged more if you are white for event venues. Problem is it's hard to prove even though it's widely talked about. Everyone mostly gets along and nearly all the top performing students are Asian.

I know my look ‘fits’ many job applications/interviews and always have know.

When I was a student, many years ago, I worked in an American summer camp and then spent a few weeks travelling around the country. One day I ended up in a predominantly black area of a city and was suddenly aware of being white.

I think that not ever thinking about the colour of my skin until my early 20s is the epitome of white privilege.

Well obviously being white, I experience white privilege everyday. I'm fairly sure, as a white woman with a well spoken accent, I could drive around with a ton of heroin in my car for the rest of my life and never be searched.

@barbieandshelley we made the mistake of ds going through with dh that time so they searched my 3yo too only a pat down but he was pretty scared.

@1066vegan yes. We literally experience it every day by the fact that it’s not something we ‘have‘ to think about.

Every single day.

And I've spent a lot of time supply teaching. The curriculum for most, if not all, subjects is aimed at white males and written by white males. I've done a lot of supply so seen a lot of subjects.

The school uniforms arw based on 1950s grammar school uniform, the food in most schools / colleges is typical of that cooked in a white Brisish home. You might get the odd curry.

The text books, they might show people of different colours but when you get to the section on nutriton there will be pictures of chips but not samosas or akee.

I had a class writing their CVS, they listed all their GCSE grades but not their languages, when I asked them why they didn't put the language down they said because they didn't have a GCSE in it.

Some of the students were fluent in 3 languages, but they had not had hte oportunity to study those languages.

There is an idea in linguistics that anguages have a 'value' or 'prestige', someone fluent in English, Spanish and French is considered clever, someone fluent in English, Urdu and Punjabi isn't.

Language departments in school almost all centre on European languages. Now I know that for many people they will not travel outside Europe and in terms of 'value' Spanish has millions of users but there is no reason why schools can't add in other languages, particularly in an area where there are a lot of children whose parents / grandparents are native speakers.

Even the local Sikh school, which does teach Punjabi, doesn't make it a compulsory subject for non Sikh children.

Sorry slight rant there.

In my pewerpoints I try to include things left out of the text books so if I'm teaching about making a snack, then I'll have a slide with various types of tea, with cardamon made in a pan, made in a tea pot with leaves, in an urn served in glasses. It's a tiny thing that takes no time at all.

• I had to have fingerprints taken for an immigration document. Policeman said to me 'no way a nice girl like you could commit a crime'



So because I look 'nice' I'm absolutely not a criminal?! Then I'd be the best type, surely? 🤔*

This wasn't because you are white, this was because you are female and he probably fancied you.

Yes my dc went with me once and they separated us and asked one if they'd been given any 'sweeties' for the flight and patted them down. Obviously looking for illegal substances. I learned my lesson that day. I had to take a dc on an educational event earlier this year. I felt sick taking them without my dh but he couldn't get time off work

I got racially abused at the airport in Germany but luckily an English family cafe to help me. Someone screaming stupid girl at me over and over because I'd sat where they wanted to (I'd been there an hour before they even arrived at where I was and it was not any special seat etc)
There had been racial marches in the week we were there which were anti Muslim (I'm not Muslim but brown) and I was absolutely terrified. I don't show my fear I hold my head up high but inside I'm scared and it really does wear you down walking into any room and assessing if you're going to get trouble.

Just having people show my dc they can treat me in that way is sad. And even myself catching me think things like, so lucky my dc turned out light skinned so they won't suffer upsets me.

@sashh our school has food from all over the world. But I don’t think a school in England serving traditional English food is weird.
Just as I wouldn’t expect bangers and mash to be on the menu in a Delhi school.

@ShayAnd

Glad to hear that some places are more diverse, I've taught in places where I'm the only white person in the room, so while I think there should be 'English' food I also believe it should reflect the make up of the pupils / students.

Every day, simply because despite the fact that I’ve seen my fair share of shit in life, my skin colour has never been a factor and I have never been persecuted for just being white.

I always have white privilege because I’m white. The thing about white privilege is that you never know when it’s at play, because you’ve never not had it. asking when you’ve been the recipient of white privilege is basically asking when you’ve suffered discrimination, poorer treatment, suspicion etc due to not being white. How would you know you have had its advantages if you’ve never been in the same situation as a BME person, and the answer is never, because you’re always white.

My brother is white. As a young adult, he grew his hair long, dressed “alternatively,” had a straggly and gross beard. He was late home Multiple times because the police would exercise their right to stop and search.

When he got tired of that happening, he decided to shave, cut his hair, and dress differently. Never stopped again.

That’s white privilege. Friends and non-white family members can dress however they like and will still be pulled over because “you fit the description.” That’s racism.